Letters to the Editor for May 22, 2014

The last day to submit letters relating to the June 3 primary will be Wednesday, May 28.

In support of
Matt Hawkins

To the Editor:

I have known Mr. Hawkins for at least ﬁve years now.

I have watched him get to know the community and understand its challenges and he takes pride in doing his job. During Mr. Hawkins’ time on the City Council they have never laid-off a peace ofﬁcer. As a retired law enforcement deputy not only is this important to me it should be important to the citizens of the City of Sonora. The City Council has successfully added peace ofﬁcers through budget changes or through grants that were found to help fund the Police Department. The county board of supervisors has consistently threatened to lay-off their law enforcement personnel every budget year. This should show that during Mr. Hawkins time on the council he has made it a point to keep Law Enforcement a priority. I have sat in on some of the City Council meetings and Mr. Hawkins has shown leadership that is very hard to ﬁnd these days. The boldness to present the “Vision Sonora” project, that will bring more a modern look while keeping the small town feel, shows vision beyond the present time. This project will change the way Downtown feels and will help bring in more ﬂexibility for downtown events and potential revenue, especially during these hard economic times. This will also help with trafﬁc ﬂow in and around the downtown area including the intersection by Sonora High School. This is the leadership that needs to be shown to keep Sonora relevant as the times change. I am writing this because I feel compelled to support a good man trying to do the right thing in a time of uncertainty. Please join me in supporting Matt Hawkins in the upcoming election in June.

Bryan Lisitsin

Sonora

McClintock’s insults show ignorance

To the Editor:

As a veteran like Congressional candidate Moore, I was shocked at McClintock’s apparent ignorance of the military tradition to not vote. He further insults all vets by claiming that Moore is some kind of scofflaw. Should McClintock be excused for this blunder simply because he has not served himself? Maybe, like Cheney, he had better things to do?

William Bergmann

Murphys

Better safe
than sorry

To the Editor:

I’m writing in response to your recent editorial on reopening the forest (May 16). I see some seemingly careless statements being made without any real facts put forth.

If the Forest Supervisor, Ms. Skalaski, has declared the Rim Fire area to be unsafe for public use, why would you doubt her. Do you have information she doesn’t have? Is your publication ready to take responsibility (the responsibility she has been entrusted with) for what might happen in that devastated area?

Remember how the Rim Fire started? Contrary to Forest Service direction, a hunter built a camp fire which got out of control. It would seem that those Forest Service people actually do know what they’re talking about.

You make casual comparisons to other fire areas, but there are fires and then there are fires. The Rim Fire was as large and intense as forest fires get. Trees left standing in the wake of most fires have a great deal of core remaining and can stand for years. Even so, it is unsafe to camp or even picnic in proximity to them. You apparently think this was one of those kinds of fires, but the forest supervisor (someone who has access to the facts) thinks otherwise.

The Bell Mountain fire of a decade ago, was open to the public while root systems were still smoldering. The same Forest Service made that call. They apparently did not see that situation as being dangerous. To my knowledge, that decision was justified because no one was hurt as a result.

Workers who move into the devastated area to remove timber or fix trails or whatever, will be prepared with hardhats and the like. John Q. Public and his kids probably will not.

Are $23 million in mushrooms worth child’s life — not likely.

Dick Chimenti

Twain Harte

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